Hilda Downer is the inaugural High Country Poet Laureate and author of four collections of poetry and forthcoming chapbook, Seeds of Gems and Metals. Her second book, Sky Under the Roof, was a Nautilus Golden Poetry Winner in Books for a Better World. She edited the anthology, Had I a Dove: Appalachian Poets on the Helene Flood released in September 2025 by Redhawk Publications with all proceeds going to a Helene Flood Relief Fund. Had I a Dove won the American Writing Award in the Poetry Anthology category, was a finalist in the American Writing Award Nonfiction category, and has won an award not announced until mid-March. Retired from teaching English at Appalachian State University, she has recently retired as a psychiatric nurse. She holds an MFA from Vermont College and is a long-term member of the Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative, the Appalachian Studies Association, North Carolina Writers Network, and the North Carolina Writers Conference. She grew up in Bandana of Mitch